Explanatory Memorandum to COM(2025)142 - EU position in preparation for the 20th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES CoP20)

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dossier COM(2025)142 - EU position in preparation for the 20th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on International Trade in ...
source COM(2025)142
date 02-04-2025


1. Subject matter of the proposal

This proposal concerns the Council Decision that is required in order to establish the position to be taken on the Union's behalf during the 20th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora regarding various envisaged amendments to the Appendices to the Convention.

2. Context of the proposal

2.1. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (the Convention or CITES) aims to protect wild animals and plants against over-exploitation through international trade. The Convention entered into force on 1 July 1975.

The Union and all its Member States are Parties to the Convention1.

2.2. The Conference of the Parties to the Convention

The Conference of the Parties (CoP) was established pursuant to Article XI of the Convention and is the Convention’s governing body. The CoP meets every two to three years to review the Convention’s implementation. In particular, for the purposes of this proposal, the CoP considers and adopts proposals to amend the lists of endangered species of animals and plants included in Appendices I and II to the Convention.

2.3. The envisaged acts

During its 20th meeting (CoP20) from 24 November 2025 to 5 December 2025, the CoP is to decide on proposals to amend the CITES Appendices (the ‘listing proposals’). The purpose of including particular (groups of) species in the Appendices is to generally prohibit (Appendix I) or to monitor and regulate (Appendix II) commercial trade in those species. In addition, the Union will make a submission under Article XVI of the Convention for listing of certain species in Appendix III of the Convention.

The Appendices are integral parts of the Convention and are therefore legally binding.

Under Article XV(1)(c) of the Convention, amendments to the Appendices that are decided by the CoP (Amendments to Appendices I and II) become applicable 90 days after the closure of the CoP. Pursuant to Article XVI(2) of the Convention, amendments to Appendix III take effect 90 days after the communication by the Secretariat to the Parties of the submission under Article XVI(1) of the Convention.

3. Position to be taken on the Union’s behalf

In accordance with Article XV(1) of the Convention, any Party may propose amendments to Appendices I or II for consideration at CoP20. The text of the proposed amendment is to be communicated to the Secretariat of the Convention at least 150 days before the meeting (i.e. by 27 June 2025).

In accordance with Article XVI of the Convention, any Party may submit to the Secretariat a list of species which it identifies as being (i) subject to regulation within its jurisdiction, for the purpose of preventing or restricting exploitation; and (ii) needing the cooperation of other Parties in the control of trade and therefore requiring to be listed in Appendix III. Such a submission can be made at any time, but paragraph 3 of Resolution Conf. 9.25 (Rev. CoP18) of the Conference of the Parties to CITES recommends that a Party that intends to include a species in Appendix III should inform the Secretariat of its intention to do so at least three months before a meeting of the CoP. This is to ensure that it enters into force on the same date as any amendments to Appendices I and II adopted at that meeting.

If adopted, the listing proposals will affect the Union’s rules, because they would entail amendments to relevant Union legislation, in particular to the Annex to Council Regulation (EC) No 338/972 (where changes to the Appendices of the Convention need to be reflected). This would result in the establishment of restrictions to trade from, into and within the Union for the species concerned by these changes. The submission under Article XVI of the Convention has similar legal effects as they will also entail amendments to the Annex to Council Regulation (EC) No 338/97.

Experts from EU Member States and from the Commission have been considering various taxonomic groups in order to identify species that are threatened due to international trade and could therefore meet the criteria for inclusion in one of the CITES Appendices. The aim would be for the Union to then make proposals and submissions for listing these species at or on the occasion of CoP20. The proposals have been assessed on the basis of scientific literature and other sources of scientific information. These include (i) categorisation of the species according to the Red List of Threatened Species compiled by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN); (ii) where available, trade data obtained from the CITES Trade Database; and (iii) country-specific information on the conservation status of the species and existing protection measures.

These considerations have given rise to seven draft proposals for inclusion of species in CITES Appendices I or II that are referred to in the proposed Council Decision.

Six of these seven draft proposals suggest that individual species or groups of species (listed at a higher taxonomic rank) should be included for the first time in CITES Appendix II. This would also be in line both with the criteria in paragraph 2 of Article II of the Convention and with the additional guidance in CoP Resolution 9.24 (Rev. CoP17).

For the seventh proposal (regarding Araucaria angustifolia), it is not yet possible to determine whether it would be more appropriate to list it in Appendix I or II. Further analysis and replies from the relevant range states should guide the Council in determining whether it should propose to include this in Appendix II (in line with the abovementioned criteria) or include it in Appendix I (in line with the criteria in paragraph 1 of Article II of the Convention and with the additional guidance in CoP Resolution 9.24 (Rev. CoP17)).

These draft listing proposals have been considered at meetings of the Scientific Review Group and the Group of Experts of the Member States’ CITES management authorities and by an ad hoc meeting of representatives of the Member States’ scientific authorities for CITES. In accordance with CoP Resolution 9.24 (Rev. CoP17), the Commission has also consulted with the range states of the species being considered for listing. The Commission sought their views on a possible listing under the Convention and encouraged them to share relevant scientific information. Replies from some range states are still pending and will be considered by the Council when it decides on the proposals to be submitted by the Union. In particular, a decision to propose the listing of Gekko badenii, Araucaria angustifolia and Commiphora wightii should depend on whether or not major range states express their support for this. Range states that support a listing proposal, will be invited to join with the EU in submitting the proposal to the CITES Secretariat. Dedicated meetings with Union stakeholders and with third-country representatives on the Union’s potential listing proposals are planned for spring 2025.

4. Legal basis

4.1. Procedural legal basis

4.1.1. Principles

Article 218(9) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) provides for decisions establishing ‘the positions to be adopted on the Union’s behalf in a body set up by an agreement, when that body is called upon to adopt acts having legal effects, with the exception of acts supplementing or amending the institutional framework of the agreement.’

‘Acts having legal effects’ includes acts that have legal effects by virtue of the rules of international law governing the body in question. They also include instruments that do not have a binding effect under international law, but that are ‘capable of decisively influencing the content of the legislation adopted by the EU legislature’3.

4.1.2. Application to the present case

The Conference of the Parties is a body set up by an agreement, namely CITES.

The amendments to CITES Appendices I and II on which the CoP is due to decide constitute acts having legal effects. The amended Appendices will be an integral part of the Convention and therefore binding under international law.

A notification relating to Appendix III does not require a decision by the CoP, but it is appropriate to include it in the present decision, given that the changes to Appendix III, as an integral part of the Convention, will be legally binding on the parties, and given that amendments to Appendix III also decisively influence Council Regulation (EC) No 338/97 within the meaning of the OIV case-law4.

Amendments to the Appendices do not supplement or amend the Convention’s institutional framework.

The procedural legal basis for the proposed decision is therefore Article 218(9) TFEU.

4.2. Substantive legal basis

4.2.1. Principles

The substantive legal basis for a decision under Article 218(9) TFEU depends primarily on the objective and content of the envisaged act in respect of which a position is taken on the Union’s behalf. If the envisaged act pursues two aims or has two components and if one of those aims or components is identifiable as the main one (whereas the other one is merely incidental), the decision under Article 218(9) TFEU must be founded on a single substantive legal basis (i.e. the legal basis required by the main/predominant aim or component).

With regard to an envisaged act that either (i) simultaneously pursues a number of objectives or (ii) has several components which are inseparably linked without one being incidental to the other, the substantive legal basis of a decision under Article 218(9) TFEU will have to include, exceptionally, the various corresponding legal bases.

4.2.2. Application to the present case

The envisaged CoP decisions pursue objectives and have components in the areas of ’environment’ and ‘trade’. These elements of the envisaged act are inseparably linked without one being incidental to each other.

The substantive legal basis of the proposed decision therefore comprises Articles 192(1) TFEU and 207 i TFEU first subparagraph.

4.3. Conclusion

The legal basis of the proposed decision should be Articles 192(1) TFEU and 207 i first subparagraph TFEU, in conjunction with Article 218(9) TFEU.